When you think about Morocco, you will probably think of the desert. The Sahara is the biggest desert in the world and a must see when you are in Morocco. However, the most beautiful places like Erg Chebbi are far away from the popular tourist cities. For example from Marrakech you will need at least a 12 hours’ drive to get to Merzouga from where you can go into the desert.
Surf Paradise Morocco
As I did not have the time yet to visit the Sahara, I decided to do a trip a bit closer to home. This trip is offered by Surf Paradise Morocco (https://surfparadisemorocco.net/), which is a surf hostel located in Tamraght. From here they organise multiple trips in the surrounding areas including this sandboarding trip. Around 4 pm they pick you up from the location you want in the area of Taghazout, Tamraght or Agadir, but a pick up in Agadir costs 5 euros extra. I decided to travel to Taghazout myself (which costs 7,5 dirhams by bus which is around 75 euro cents) and wait there for the pick-up.
Banana plantations
I thought that there would be a whole group of tourists as the website says it can be a group up to 20 people, but when they arrived it was just the owner of the hostel with two other Moroccan men. The drive from Taghazout to the Small Sahara takes around 30 minutes and has the most gorgeous views of the coastline. During this trip you will also pass by the big banana plantations and we stopped in a nearby village called Tamri to buy coffee and go to the toilet. Here, they also bought a Moroccan doughnut for me.
Small Sahara
After arrival at the site, you first have to walk and climb a dune to get to the real dunes. Here there is no vegetation anymore and all you see is sand and the ocean in the background. It is called the Small Sahara as there are only 5 or 6 sand dunes, so do not expect a big desert. These dunes are high and steep which make them perfect for sandboarding.
The guide brought a surfboard and showed me how to stand on it. It is quite difficult to get speed as the sand slows you down. This makes it more difficult to keep your balance and there is a possibility that you will fall with your face in the sand like I did. Luckily, the sand is soft and the fall will not hurt. Determined to do it right, I tried again and this time I made it all the way to the end and it felt awesome!
Views of the ocean..
Of course, walking up the dunes with the surfboard is very exhausting, which is why we all lay down in the sand and enjoyed the view. The people were all super chill and relaxed and gave me the freedom to do whatever I want. There was also some time for pictures and videos of this amazing spot. I felt extremely free and the place itself is super quiet. Even if you do not like to go sandboarding, this place is beautiful and fun to go to.
I would definitely recommend to plan a visit to the Small Sahara during your trip in Morocco to escape the busyness of the cities. Surf Paradise Morocco plans its trips in the afternoon so that you will experience the sunset. Unfortunately I was not lucky as there was no sunset this night, but the timing of the day still made the whole scenery look magical.
If you have any questions about sandboarding in the Small Sahara or other questions you can always send me an email!